Three Rivers wins at Sturgis

Jalen Heivilin hooked up with Bryce Morlan for three scores as Three Rivers defeated host Sturgis, 35-7, Friday night in Wolverine Conference action.

“That’s a deal where they grew up throwing to each other and that’s a pretty good combination,” Wildcat coach JJ Wagner said of his junior duo.

Three Rivers had a tough go early as the Trojan defense played strong against the run. On the third series, the Wildcat offense started going to the air.

“We wanted to come out and try and establish the run, we made some strides on the offensive line this week,” Wagner said. “We still have some good skill kids that we have got to get the ball to passing.”

The Sturgis secondary was not as strong as coach Jimmy Lamb would have like and he blamed himself and the staff.

“I know that I’m going to address that tomorrow in our video meeting, I know that I’m going to address it Monday in our work meeting,” he said. “Because we’ve got to start as football players to know down-and-distance, where they’re aligned which could tell you what they’re going to run. We did a bad job this week, as coaches, coaching it up. Our guys didn’t execute out there and that’s on us.”

The Wildcats were able to move into the redzone as the quarter shifted from the first to the second. A short loss on a run and a penalty pushed them back outside the Trojan 20-yard line on third down.

But an 11-yard pass to Zac Myers and a 10-yard strike to Morlan on fourth down got the first score of the game.

Morlan then added the point after for a 7-0 lead with 9:08 to go before halftime.

“So we’re going to have to rebuild, figure out who needs to be where and some of these guys need some confidence,” Lamb said. “I think we have athletes that are second-guessing themselves, especially in the secondary and I want them to go play. And their passing attack tonight beat us and we’re going to go back to work and fix it.”

The Trojans had an opportunity to tie the game just past the mid-point of the period as Brecken Stewart picked off a pass and returned it 22 yards to the Wildcat 19-yard line.

Sturgis was unable to pick up a first down and set up for a 30-yard field goal attempt, but a bad snap ended the chance.

“That was huge,” Lamb said. “We snapped it over the holder. There’s another special teams example of momentum shift. We have to fix those, clean those up.”

Five plays later, Heivilin found Morlan again for a 55-yard scoring strike and a 14-0 lead with 1:06 before the break.

“We were able to hold them down in tight and turn it around and turn it into a score,” Wagner said. “That was a big momentum shift.”

Sturgis held the Wildcats on the opening drive on the second half, but started in poor field position at its’ own 10-yard line. But a 30-yard completion from Avery Cleveland to Stewart on a second-and 15 gave the offense a spark that turned into a score eight plays later.

Sturgis cut the deficit in half as Cleveland connected with Zach Chapman. Lexis Galvan hit the point after to make the score 14-7 with 3:52 to go in the third quarter.

The Trojan defense tried to get a quick three-and-out to keep momentum, but it didn’t happen. Three Rivers converted a long third down and five plays later the score was 21-7.

“There was a big play, it was a third-and-nine and they got a first down,” Lamb said. “We need to come up, roll up, have more confidence and jam those guys at the line of scrimmage.”

The touchdown was a 15-yard run by Nolan Mark.

“I think we got better on the offensive line this week,” Wagner said. “They didn’t give up as many sacks, we had more completions, we played better.”

Three Rivers turned the Trojans over on downs early in the fourth quarter setting up the next score.

“The defense played well, they did their jobs up front,” Wagner said. “We knew when you play that dive option and stuff, you have to play assignment football and they must have done well.”

Moments later, the Heivilin-Morlan combo connected again for a 35-yard touchdown and a 28-7 lead.

“I’m going to go back a handful of years here and we’ve always had some corners and safeties, and I’m not blaming anybody, who have not been super strong with reads on a guy and going and making plays,” Lamb said. “We’ve got to teach that, coach that up.”

The Wildcats final score came after a fumble recovery by Jett Haifley after a bad Trojan pitch.

Heivilin got his fourth touchdown pass, this time for six yards to fullback Tyler Moore.

Heivilin finished 16-for-22 for 220 yards with four touchdowns and one interception. Morlan caught seven for 142 yards, while Gavin Charvat had four receptions for 29 yards and Meyer had three catches for 32 yards.

Haifley led the ground attack with 12 handles for 38 yards, while Mark ran five times for 34 yards.

Cleveland finished 6-for-9 for 116 yards with a touchdown. Chapman and Stewart each caught three passes for 58 yards.